The Savage album is officially finished and is now just waiting for the artwork designs. The final mixes were completed last week by Nathan Boddy in London, working alongside Gary and producer Ade Fenton, and the album was them mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering on May 19th.

The track listing for the standard album is:Ghost Nation, Bed Of Thorns, My Name Is Ruin, The End Of Things, And It All Began With You, When The World Comes Apart, Mercy, What God Intended, Pray For The Pain You Serve, Broken.

An extra track ‘If I Said’ will be added to the Deluxe CD as well as the vinyl version. The vinyl version also gets a second extra track called ‘Cold’.

SubHuman wrote:Have to say I'm enjoying the songs I've heard so far from the new album.

Pre-ordered mine today on Amazon!

Got my copy on Saturday, very impressed with both the atypical packaging and the eleven tracks topping out at about 62mins. Not much else to say, guess I need to hear a few times for any further thoughts

Agreed. And of course they can. It's all about getting your music out on as many formats (cd, vinyl, deluxe cd and even tape) to get those high chart placings. Hardcore fans will buy it. Look at Numan this week - in at #2. Fair play to him.

OMD ended up at 147 this week from #55Chart run of #4 #55 #147 Can understand why some would say why bother.

I imagine it's the cachet of being able to say that you've had a hit album. At the end of the day, the record books will show that Numan's Savage album charted at the same position as Depeche Mode's Violator, Pet Shop Boys' Actually and Yazoo's Upstairs at Eric's.

I’ve just got my hands on a copy of ‘Legacy’, the DVD that provides us with revisiting of classic songs live on stage at Liverpool Olympia on 16th September 2016.

I think ‘Replicas’, ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and ‘Telekon’ are such great distinctive and timeless albums with such a surreal soundscape that it is marvellous that not only has Gary given them a twenty-first century polish but that this rare chance to see songs performed live has been captured on DVD.The set list, in my opinion, is indeed impressive…

ReplicasMetalRemind Me To SmileMe, I Disconnect From YouFilmsThe Joy CircuitYou Are In My VisionM.E.This WreckageWe Are So FragileObserverI’m an AgentDown in the ParkTracksWe Are GlassAre ‘Friends’ Electric?CarsI Die You DieEveryday I DieMy Shadow In Vain

…and whilst not entirely comprehensive of what you find on the three albums for me this is an awesome collection!

Downsides to the release? Well it is only available, as far as I can see, via the official Gary Numan website shop and if I was in a nit-picking frame of mind, it does feel rather thin on content as apart from the main feature (just an hour and a half) you only get a twelve and a half minute ‘exclusive interview’ with Gary. Although it is a basic cardboard slipcase with two panel cardboard panel therein I love the artwork and design. Whilst the left houses the DVD attached to a central clear plastic fixing point the left panel offers basic band, crew and production credits below those three iconic album sleeve covers. Above this we have the following blurb which I think provides an interesting insight into Gary’s thoughts and opinion about revisiting old songs…

“It’s only recently that I’ve become comfortable with my earlier music. For so many years I tried to distance myself from it. I saw it more as a chain around my ankle, something holding back my progress as a musician and songwriter. It chained me to an older era, a period in time that I had made every effort to move on from. I grew to almost resent it. I certainly didn’t see it as something to be proud of, more as a huge cloud overshadowing everything I tried to do afterwards, and that was a mistake. With the phenomenal reaction to my 2013 album Splinter, I finally felt that ankle chain was broken, the cloud disappeared, and I was able to look back at my early career in a very different way. What I found was something that I should always have been proud of. The songs are what they are and I would never claim that they are special in any way. But, they were different for their time, and they played a significant part in a huge musical shift, the rise to the mainstream of electronic music. To revisit those songs and take them back on tour was a fantastic experience. Not one I will repeat often if I am honest, if every again, but it put me back in touch with who I used to me, and made me just as proud of what I’ve become. I’m still obsessed about where I’m going next, that will never change, but this is where it all began.”